Paul Schockemöhle entered the hall of fame of showjumping, when he became individual European Champion Showjumping at three consecutive Championships. 1981 in Munich, 1983 in Hickstead and 1985 in Dinard; from the Championships in 1981 and 85, he also returned home with team gold. For all these European medals, his four-legged partner of success was Deister, a Hannoverian gelding by Diskant. Deister was a horse from Hartwig Steenken, but was sold to Paul Schockemöhle in 1978 after the death of the only 36-years’ old World Champion. Paul Schockemöhle also collected Olympic medals - he got team silver at the Montreal Olympics in 1976 (here his elder brother Alwin got individual gold, riding Warwick Rex) and team-bronze at the Olympic Games 1984 in Los Angeles.

However, first and foremost Paul Schockemöhle was and is a businessman: his group of logistic companies is a heavyweight on the Geman and international market for forwarding companies; already when being a youngster, PS was one of the largest egg producers in Europe. Also his horse business has been built up to enormousness. At his Lewitz Stud, there are approx. 3.500 horses located on approx. 3000 hectares, approx. 500 foals are born every year. In his competition and sales yard in Mühlen, Schockemöhle always has approx. 250 horses - from youngsters to top-class international showjumping horses. Together with Uli Kasselmann, Paul Schockemöhle has initiated the PSI-auction: every year at the beginning of December, international clients meet in Ankum to buy young top-class dressage- and jumping horses at top-prices. It was an unforegettable moment when in 2003 the that-time six-years’ old “wonder mare” Poetin was sold at the PSI for the record-breaking price of 2,5 million Euros. It should be noticed only for the sake of completeness that PS also organizes quite a lot of competitions in Germany and that he was the founder of the Riders Tour.

However, besides his entrepreneurship, it’s also Paul Schockemöhle’s attitude of being straight-line, sometimes provoking, often polarizing. PS does not allows anybody to “bend” him, his repect for functionaries always was very limited. One time - so it is written by Dieter Ludwig, a German journalist who knows PS quite well (see also www.ludwigs-pferdewelten.de in German language) - PS nuckled down under the pressure of German functionaries: at the European Championships 1987 in St. Gallen (Switzerland), where were disastrous ground conditions. “I was forced by the German jumping committee”, so Dieter Ludwig quotes Paul Schockemöhle with regard to the fact that the rider had to compete Deister without any chance at the last round. Deister suffered an almost complete tear-off of his tendon….

When Paul Schockemöhle in October 2009 made the provoking request that the German National Federation (FN) should release a part of their staff and then - by the saved money - could keep good horses in Germany, there was a big outcry in the German’s functionaries’ squad and their reaction was accordingly piqued. And even German press agencies stated that the German FN’s general secretary has given a “smug reaction” to this request. (Equi-News.de had reported on this). However, unfortunately it was overlooked inmidden all the stir caused by such a request that Paul Schockemöhle clearly identified the problem that in Germany there is a severe lack in promoting talents both in top-sport and for young talents. And, admittedly, Paul Schockemöhle isn’t the biggest diplomat when he sees something which hits the roof.